[MUD-Dev] narrative

[Jeremy Noetzelman]

On Wed, 21 Aug 2002, Brandon J. Van Every wrote:

> Statistically speaking, you're absolutely correct.  The vast
> majority of game designers see themselves as programmers, far more

I'd argue that most game designers today are not programmers.
They'd make more money programming, by and large, than they will
doing game design.  Can you back up your statistics?

> than any other hat they might wear.  Very few see themselves
> primarily as fine artists, filmmakers, or writers.  Most apply a

I don't think game designers SHOULD see themselves as 'fine artists,
film makers, or writers' ... game companies hire writers to do
writing, they hire game designers to design games, not do the
writing.  While many consider game design to be an art form, it is
certainly not involved in narrative story telling or writing.

> programmer's sensibility to what's worth doing or not doing, what
> R&D sounds cool and what sounds like a waste of time.  There's a
> tremendous apathy to the craft of writing in the game industry,
> because the vast majority of game developers are non-writers.

Perhaps this is because there is more money to be made by having a
basic story and focusing on gameplay and technical enhancement.  I
would argue that companies are not interested in the type of story
telling you advocate because it is a poor investment.  The decision
of what to do or what not to do is less a decision made by
'programmer sensibility' and more by financial issues.  Money spent
on story yields less ROI than money spent on better gameplay or
technology.  Story doesn't sell, screenshots do.  Ask any marketing
guy in this space what sells ... story won't be high on the list.

Remember, people like you who focus on story are just as niche as
text MUD developers.  The accountants know that, and make decisions
accordingly.

> What will ever change that circumstance?  I think it will take a
> game that finally shows what interactive story can be, that makes
> a lot of money, that blows all this amateurish player-driven
> emergent "narrative" stuff out of the water.  Something that is
> compelling beyond gamer geeks, that provides what mass market TV
> and film audiences expect out of entertainment.  Only when someone
> makes a big pile of $$$$$$$ on story will the game developers
> start to regard it as important.  Even then, they'll resist it for
> a decade.

I don't think anyone WILL make a big pile of $$$ on story.
Everything I've ever seen indicates that high quality narrative or
story will make less money.  This is true in other mediums, such as
film, as well.  The really great narrative stories told in movies
pale in revenue compared to the latest action flick, or anything
else with mass popular appeal.  No matter what your personal
preference may be, the mass market's preference dictates what makes
the money and what doesn't.  And your ideal storytelling won't make
money.

Additionally, you can't compare computer games with mass market TV
or films, because they're completely different mediums.  Computer
games are interactive.  TV and movies are not even remotely
interactive.  Completely seperate.  Expectations are completely
different.  Another way to look at it is that computer game players
want to BE the story, while TV and movie audiences want to SEE/HEAR
the story.

J




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